As the temperatures remained frigid and the power went out, we started looking for ways to temporarily improve the insulation of the house. In the end, I think the power returned often enough that these didn't make much difference, but we were preparing for the power to be out for days.
First, however, a few notes on things we could have done but didn't think of until later.
- Block the dryer vent, preferably from the outside. It's basically a hole for cold air into the house.
- Block the stove exhaust vent, also preferably from the outside.
- Block the fireplace opening (when not in use)
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| Scrap foam filled the stairwell windows. These have easy access and we removed them when they were in the sun for free solar heating. |
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| Our temperature gun indicated that we were losing a lot of heat through our solid wood front door (it measured about 25 degrees F colder than our walls). We covered the door with cardboard and sealed the gaps with gaffer tape. We experimented with aluminum foil to enhance the insulation, but our temperature gun seems to misread temperatures on shiny surfaces, so the results were inconclusive. We also filled the adjacent windows with random scraps. |
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| Temporary curtains, tape and towels on our French doors |
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| This wall next to the fireplace is always cold in the winter and warm in the summer. Some kind of draft runs through it, but I'm not sure how or why. I suspect the fireplace is somehow responsible. We stuffed the shelves with pillows and raised the surface temperature facing the room about 10 degrees F. |
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| I originally cut these sheets of foam a couple years ago to try to warm-up our bathroom in the winter. It didn't help much then, but I pulled them out for this situation. Someday, we should get curtains here :-) |
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